I recently finished reading the book "Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope" - Jenna Bush. If you are a health educator or interested in reading personal stories about the affects of HIV/AIDS in the developing world, then this is the book for you. It is written at a reading level for children in Middle School and highlights the importance of being open about your disease, practicing safe sex and the trials of growing up in a poor neighborhoods in developing nations. At the end of the book there are several sections available for book club questions, more information on HIV/AIDS and tips on how to get involved.
This book got me thinking about HIV/AIDS in Moldova. Anytime, I speak with one of my English Club students they deny the existence of the disease. And once I show them news and information acknowledging its existence they then continue to explain that if HIV/AIDS is here in Moldova it must have come from the USA. Americans certainly brought it here. This week I am going to bring this book to my English Club and hopefully one of my students will want to read it.
In my search for more information about HIV/AIDS in Moldova I found a website with some resources: http://aids.md/aids/
Another with information: http://www.usaid.gov/locations/europe_eurasia/countries/md/index.html
And finally an interesting article from the Economist: http://www.economist.com/research/articlesBySubject/displaystory.cfm?subjectid=348867&story_id=17572252
The article from the Economist was most eye-opening. Apparently the HIV/AIDS situation in Moldova is "stable" (according to their map) but many of the other old soviet republics and neighboring nations have no data available. Interesting. I suppose it is just something to think about. How many people do you think are living in this country with an HIV/AIDS secret? I also wonder how many people do not even know that they have the disease...
Stefan cel Mare statue Chisinau, Moldova
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